Research and development: Tonnes o' fun

Being a part-journo student research of topics has always been key to creating a good story, or in our case a documentary. some of the key reasons for research that I have learnt before are below:

- For your subjects to take you seriously: If you have no idea what your talking about your subjects may give less informative and fruitful answers in an interview.

- To be able to ask good questions in an interview: Without researching a topic (and subject) you won't know what questions to ask, or ask good questions. When you know more about a subject you can ask more in depth and quality questions as you have the pre existing knowledge.

- To add more flesh to your story: Without knowing much about topic, your documentary will be empty apart from interviews. After researching a topic it makes it easier to put your on perspective on a topic, as well as being able to back up your opinions and perspectives.

So it becomes obvious that research is key to creating an entertaining and persuasive documentary.

Ways to add a unique edge to a documentary

Todays lecture gave some interesting to give a documentary an interesting and emotive twist, rather than being just a news report or documenting of events. Below are features from the films in todays lecture and what I learnt from them:

A Propos de Nice (1930s) - "by showing certain basic aspects of a city, that city is put on trial."

- Having a variety of shots can keep the viewer visually interested.

- These sorts of non-interview shots can really help get a message across by showing it, not telling it.

From the East (1993) - Still shots, movement (or lack thereof) all within frame

all diegetic sound and lots of silence

camera as the recorder of life

- Again this emphasises the ability to "show" a story, not tell it

Zidane (2006) - "feature film that follows the protahgonist of the story without telling the story"

- Filming Zidane throughout an entire match

- Majority of shots are close ups

- I though this was a great example in how a story can be told, or a message delivered by the facial expressions and body language of a subject, rather than the words they say.

Sunrise over Tiananmen square

- Uses many photos and still cartoons

- Using a form of film that adds to your arguement

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Rocky Road to Dublin (1968) - taking french new wave style and putting in another countries context

It Works - Great example of showing through cinematography rather than explicitly telling the audience

- Shift in perspective, putting audience in position of films subject

- POV shots

So overall, the lecture showed that there is far more to a documentary than narratives and interviews. To really persuade the audience towards your point and to entertain them. Artistic visual elements are just as if not more important than spoken elements.

Film TV2 New blog

Time to get back in to the swing of things. I'll start by pitching my idea, although it now seems kind of pointless as I prefer two of the ideas in my Group. But, without further a do, here is my idea...

I wanted to creat a doco about a Yoghurt store in Glenferrie road which was opened by two friends who were pretty much fresh out of school. The store has been highly succesful and I beleive that they are about to open a second one.

I would want to make a documentary which explores what it takes to open a business, especially at such a young age and I presume without much money. The two guys who own the store are both reasonably charismatic and would make for interesting and entertaining interviews.

The doco would focus on some of the hardships they may have faced and how they overcame them. I would also like to explore how and why the store has become so succeful and what the owners think are key pointers for starting and maintaining a succesful business.

I would Hope that I could find some sort of emotional angle or emotional ties that had to be severed in order for the business to succeed, or even relationships that were significantly strengthened.

Screw Youssical - the second version

One of my favourite films from Friday's screening as the title suggests.

There were two aspects of the film that I thought were excellent.

Firstly the dialogue. I thought that the script was really well written with clever Dr Zuess-esc rhymes which also used more adult language. The dialogue was genuinely funny and entertaining and for me was one of the main reasons that the film was one of the most entertaining.

Second was the costuming and make-up. The bolder colours used for the actors costumes really reflected a Dr. Zeuss story and made for a vibrant visual experience.

I found the framing of some of the shots was great aswell, alos reflecting something from Dr. Zeuss, including a lot of close ups with a wider angle lense, which also created a bit of humour considering the good quality acting.

A few cheeky tips

There's a fair bit I've learnt from the process of making a film this semester and I think there are a few things which are absolutely critical for a films success.

- Organisation is key, planning is everything. Our group was well organised in terms of shooting, which lead to a relatively stress free day of shooting. However, we could have organised our casting and actors a bit more carefully and maybe had a few more rehearsals. This showed up in editing and although we are able to cover some of it up, we could have benefited with the above.

- Supergroups, praise christ. There is no way we could have ran a shooting day without the extra people: Thanks a heap to Caitlyn, Heath and Lincoln. There is simply far too much do do for a group of 5 and some of their tips and abilities really came in handy.

- Continuity is key - Thankfully Lincoln really kept an eye on the continuity of scenes for us, which has really proved helpful now that we are editing.

- Use an extra monitor on set. We didn't hire a monitor for the shoot and this proved a bit costly. Without the monitor and considering the confines of our shoot, I was unable to always get a good look at the actors faces during takes. This meant that when it came to editing, we had a few shots that we really didnt like because of facial exopressions and body language.

- Communication is crucial. Throughout the entire process, from the very start to the evry end, communication with group members and actors is key. At the start of pre production our groups communication wasn't great but it improved dramatically thorughout the process and in the end helped with a smooth production.

These are definately some pointers that I will remember for next time.

Production day

So they day had finally arrived... how did it go?

An Early start...
We arrived at around 7 am on a Sunday (word for the wise.. film on another day) and luckily I had nothing on the night before so I was fresh as a daisy, or as close as I could be. Set up went relatively smoothly and the actors turned up on time so we got off to a good start. Filming outside didn't prove too much of a problem, other than having to wave through the occasional pedestrian.

In terms of coverage, we were rushed for our main scene (the pub scene) so we definately could have gotten more. Unfortunately for Daan we had a fridge in the background which was continuosly producing annoying sounds.

The supermakert scene took a lot of directing. As our actor for the supermarket attendant was, in a nice way, average at best. But thankfully we got enough coverage here to almost make up for the lack of acting ability.

The shooting of the montage was my favourite part of the day. It was just a lot of improv and we got some good shots (thanks to Paddy) and some funny footage.

Overall, the day wran pretty smoothly and we were finished by just after 5. We couldnt have doner it without the help of our friends Lincolon, Caitlin and Heath.

Casting Time

So it's been a while....

Casting was one of my favourite parts of the entire process. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) Out of almost abut 15 people who said they were coming, only 5 or so turned up. They were a real mixed bag.

Luckily, out of the five that came we found two that we really liked the look of. But for the then hairdresser role, we didn't really find what we were looking for. I'd say this was due to the fact that only two candidates (one of which was a long shot) turned up.

In terms of directing the casting, the acotrs we like did not need too much direction and rather than using a lot of verbs, with some of the actors we just6 needed to tell them to be less dramatic or more emotional.